Nolan Daniels Lotto Photo Hoax

Hopeful (and gullible) Facebook users wasted no time spreading this message far and wide across the platform. At the time of this writing, the photo has received over 550,000 shares!

For those of you that don’t know, the Powerball lottery paid out 588 million dollars this week, and Nolan is using the event as a way to dupe thousands of people. One of my own friends shared the photo, and when I called them out on it I got the typical response. “I figured it wasn’t true, but why not try?”

Gawker reports that the image isn’t genuine and has been Photoshopped. It has also been pointed out that on a legitimate ticket, the numbers would be presented from the smallest to the largest, and this photo clearly shows numbers out of order.

Before getting caught up in the moment, always take a few moments and verify Facebook rumors, updates and posts. It might save you some embarrassment from looking really silly to your friends!